Cell reselection for new radio - unlicensed

ABSTRACT

The present application relates to wireless devices and components including apparatus, systems, and methods for two-stage cell reselection in New Radio (NR) systems operating on unlicensed spectrum. In some embodiments, a user equipment may be perform a pre-check of a public land mobile network associated with a target cell prior to cell reselection.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application claims priority to U.S. Provisional ApplicationNo. 62/874,796 filed Jul. 16.2019 and entitled METHODS OF TWO-STEP CELLRE-SELECTION FOR NR-U. The disclosure of said application is herebyincorporated by reference in its entirety.

FIELD

The present application relates to wireless communication systemsincluding apparatuses, systems, and methods for cell reselection in NewRadio-Unlicensed (NR-U) systems.

BACKGROUND

Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Fifth Generation (5G) NewRadio-Unlicensed (NR-U) targets efficient spectrum sharing between 5GNew Radio (NR) and legacy wireless local area networks that operate inunlicensed bands. For NR-U, when a primary cell (PC-ell) is operating inan unlicensed band, a user equipment (UE) in an idle or inactive statemay need to perform a cell reselection in the unlicensed band.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

A better understanding of the present subject matter can be obtainedwhen the following detailed description of various embodiments isconsidered in conjunction with the following drawings.

FIG. 1 illustrates network devices in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 2 an operation flow/algorithmic structure in accordance with someembodiments.

FIG. 3 illustrates an operation flow/algorithmic structure in accordancewith some embodiments.

FIG. 4 illustrates an operation flow/algorithmic structure in accordancewith some embodiments.

FIG. 5 illustrates an operation flow/algorithmic structure in accordancewith some embodiments.

FIG. 6 illustrates an operation flowr/algorithmic structure inaccordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example architecture of a system in accordancewith some embodiments.

FIG. 8 illustrates an example of a platform (or “device”) in accordancewith some embodiments.

FIG. 9 illustrates example components of a baseband circuitry and radiofrequency front end modules in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating components able to readinstructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium andperform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein inaccordance with some embodiments.

While the features described herein may be susceptible to variousmodifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments thereof areshown by way of example in the drawings and are herein described indetail. It should be understood, however, that the drawings and detaileddescription thereto are not intended to be limiting to the particularform disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover allmodifications, equivalents and alternatives falling within the spiritand scope of the subject matter as defined by the appended claims.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following detailed description refers to the accompanying drawings.The same reference numbers may be used in different drawings to identifythe same or similar elements. In the following description, for purposesof explanation and not limitation, specific details are set forth suchas particular structures, architectures, interfaces, techniques, etc. inorder to provide a thorough understanding of the various aspects ofvarious embodiments. However, it will be apparent to those skilled inthe art having the benefit of the present disclosure that the variousaspects of the various embodiments may be practiced in other examplesthat depart from these specific details. In certain instances,descriptions of well-known devices, circuits, and methods are omitted soas not to obscure the description of the various embodiments withunnecessary detail. For the purposes of the present document, the phrase“A or B” means (A), (B), or (A and B).

The following is a glossary of terms that may be used in thisdisclosure:

The term “circuitry” as used herein refers to, is part of, or includeshardware components such as an electronic circuit, a logic circuit, aprocessor (shared, dedicated, or group) and/or memory (shared,dedicated, or group), an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC),a field-programmable device (FPD) (e.g., a field-programmable gate array(FPGA), a programmable logic device (PLD), a complex PLD (CPLD), ahigh-capacity PLD (HCPLD), a structured ASIC, or a programmable SoC),digital signal processors (DSPs), etc., that are configured to providethe described functionality. In some embodiments, the circuitry mayexecute one or more software or firmware programs to provide at leastsome of the described functionality. The term “circuitry” may also referto a combination of one or more hardware elements (or a combination ofcircuits used in an electrical or electronic system) with the programcode used to carry out the functionality of that program code. In theseembodiments, the combination of hardware elements and program code maybe referred to as a particular type of circuitry.

The term “processor circuitry” as used herein refers to, is part of, orincludes circuitry capable of sequentially and automatically carryingout a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations, or recording,storing, and/or transferring digital data. The term “processorcircuitry” may refer to one or more application processors, one or morebaseband processors, a physical central processing unit (CPU), asingle-core processor, a dual-core processor, a triple-core processor, aquad-core processor, and/or any other device capable of executing orotherwise 2 o operating computer-executable instructions, such asprogram code, software modules, and/or functional processes. The terms“application circuitry” and/or “baseband circuitry” may be consideredsynonymous to, and may be referred to as, “processor circuitry.”

The term “interface circuitry” as used herein refers to, is part of, orincludes circuitry that enables the exchange of information between twoor more components or devices. The term “interface circuitry” may referto one or more hardware interfaces, for example, buses, I/O interfaces,peripheral component interfaces, network interface cards, and/or thelike.

The term “user equipment” or “UE” as used herein refers to a device withradio communication capabilities and may describe a remote user ofnetwork resources in a communications network. The term “user equipment”or “UE” may be considered synonymous to, and may be referred to as,client, mobile, mobile device, mobile terminal, user terminal, mobileunit, mobile station, mobile user, subscriber, user, remote station,access agent, user agent, receiver, radio equipment, reconfigurableradio equipment, reconfigurable mobile device, etc. Furthermore, theterm “user equipment” or “UE” may include any type of wireless/wireddevice or any computing device including a wireless communicationsinterface.

The term “network element” as used herein refers to physical orvirtualized equipment and/or infrastructure used to provide wired orwireless communication network services. The term “network element” maybe considered synonymous to and/or referred to as a networked computer,networking hardware, network equipment, network node, router, switch,hub, bridge, radio network controller, RAN device, RAN node, gateway,server, virtualized VNF, NFVI, and/or the like.

The term “computer system” as used herein refers to any typeinterconnected electronic devices, computer devices, or componentsthereof. Additionally, the term “computer system” and/or “system” mayrefer to various components of a computer that are communicativelycoupled with one another. Furthermore, the term “computer system” and/or“system” may refer to multiple computer devices and/or multiplecomputing systems that are communicatively coupled with one another andconfigured to share computing and/or networking resources.

The term “appliance.” “computer appliance.” or the like, as used hereinrefers to a computer device or computer system with program code (e.g.,software or firmware) that is specifically designed to provide aspecific computing resource. A “virtual appliance” is a virtual machineimage to be implemented by a hypervisor-equipped device that virtualizesor emulates a computer appliance or otherwise is dedicated to provide aspecific computing resource.

The term “resource” as used herein refers to a physical or virtualdevice, a physical or virtual component within a computing environment,and/or a physical or virtual component within a particular device, suchas computer devices, mechanical devices, memory space, processor/CPUtime, processor/CPU usage, processor and accelerator loads, hardwaretime or 2 s usage, electrical power, input/output operations, ports ornetwork sockets, channel/link allocation, throughput, memory usage,storage, network, database and applications, workload units, and/or thelike. A “hardware resource” may refer to compute, storage, and/ornetwork resources provided by physical hardware element(s). A“virtualized resource” may refer to compute, storage, and/or networkresources provided by virtualization infrastructure to an application,device, system, etc. The term “network resource” or “communicationresource” may refer to resources that are accessible by computerdevices/systems via a communications network. The term “systemresources” may refer to any kind of shared entities to provide services,and may include computing and/or network resources. System resources maybe considered as a set of coherent functions, network data objects orservices, accessible through a server where such system resources resideon a single host or multiple hosts and are clearly identifiable.

The term “channel” as used herein refers to any transmission medium,either tangible or intangible, which is used to communicate data or adata stream. The term “channel” may be synonymous with and/or equivalentto “communications channel,” “data communications channel,”“transmission channel,” “data transmission channel,” “access channel,”“data access channel,” “link,” “data link,” “carrier.” “radiofrequencycarrier,” and/or any other like term denoting a pathway or mediumthrough which data is communicated. Additionally, the term “link” asused herein refers to a connection between two devices through a RAT forthe purpose of transmitting and receiving information.

The terms “instantiate,” “instantiation,” and the like as used hereinrefers to the creation of an instance. An “instance” also refers to aconcrete occurrence of an object, which may occur, for example, duringexecution of program code.

The terms “coupled,” “communicatively coupled,” along with derivativesthereof are used herein. The term “coupled” may mean two or moreelements are in direct physical or electrical contact with one another,may mean that two or more elements indirectly contact each other butstill cooperate or interact with each other, and/or may mean that one ormore other elements are coupled or connected between the elements thatare said to be coupled with each other. The term “directly coupled” maymean that two or more elements are in direct contact with one another.The term “communicatively coupled” may mean that two or more elementsmay be in contact with one another by a means of communication includingthrough a wire or other interconnect connection, through a wirelesscommunication channel or ink, and/or the like.

The term “information element” refers to a structural element containingone or more fields. The term “field” refers to individual contents of aninformation element, or a data element that contains content.

FIG. 1 illustrates a network environment 100 in accordance with someembodiments. The network environment 100 may include a UE 104 and aplurality of access nodes (ANs), for example, AN 108, AN 112, and AN116.

Each AN may provide one more serving cells to provide cellular serviceto connected UEs. For example, AN 108 may provide serving cell 110, AN112 may provide serving cell 114, and AN 116 may provide serving cell118. While one serving cell is shown per AN, in various embodiments eachAN may provide a plurality of serving cells including a primary cell(PCell) and one or more secondary cells (SCells). In some embodiments,the serving cells may have carrier frequencies located in an unlicensedportion of the spectrum and the network environment may operate, atleast partially, in an NR-LU system.

The UE 104 may include a radio resource control (RRC) state machine thatperforms operations related to a variety of RRC procedures including,for example, paging, RRC connection establishment, RRC connectionreconfiguration, and RRC connection release. The RRC state machine maybe implemented by protocol processing circuitry, see, for example,baseband circuitry 710 and 810 of FIGS. 7 and 8.

The RRC state machine may transition the UE into one of a number of RRCstates (or “modes”) including, for example, a connected state (RRCconnected), an inactive state (RRC inactive), and an idle state (RRCidle). The UE 104 may start in RRC idle when it first camps on a 5Gcell, for example, cell 110. This may be after the UE 104 has beenswitched on or after an inter-system cell reselection from a Long TermEvolution (LTE) cell.

To engage in active communications, the RRC state machine may transitionthe UE 104 from RRC idle to RRC connected by performing an RRC setupprocedure to establish a logical connection 120, for example, an RRCconnection 120, with the AN 108. In RRC connected, the UE 108 may beconfigured with at least one signaling radio bearer (SRB) for signaling(for example, control messages) with the AN 108; and one or more dataradio bearers (DRBs) for data transmission.

When the UE is less actively engaged in network communications, the RRCstate machine may transition the UE 104 from RRC connected to RRCinactive using an RRC release procedure. The RRC inactive state mayallow the UE 104 to reduce power consumption as compared to RRCconnected, but will still allow the UE 104 to quickly transition back toRRC connected to transfer application data or signaling messages.

While in RRC idle or RRC inactive, the RRC state machine may managemobility so by performing a cell reselection in the event signal metricsfrom the serving cell 110 fall below predetermined thresholds. Ingeneral, the UE 104 may measure signal metrics from a plurality ofneighbor cells and select one or more of the neighbor cells ascandidates for the reselection. Candidates of equal priority may beranked based on signal metrics such as, for example, reference signalreceive power (RSRP), reference signal received quality (RSRQ),signal-to-interference plus noise ratio (SINR), etc. The UE 104 mayselect one of the candidate cells, for example, cell 114 or 116, as atarget cell for cell reselection. If one or more signal metrics from thetarget cell are over a predetermined threshold for a predeterminedperiod of time, the UE 104 may complete the cell reselection.

For NR-U, when the PCell is operating in an unlicensed band, the cellreselection from RRC idle or RRC inactive may be applied by the UE 104in the unlicensed band. In some instances, the neighbor cells operatingin the unlicensed band may be from different operators belonging todifferent public land mobile networks (PLMNs). This may present achallenge for the UE 104 to have robust cell reselection in unlicensedbands. For example, if the UE 104 reselects to a cell that belongs to adifferent PLMN in which the LIE 104 is not registered, the cellreselection would fail. Accordingly, various embodiments describetechniques to improve success rates for cell reselection in NR-U.

In some embodiments, the UE 104 may engage in a two-step (or “stage”)cell reselection procedure for NR-U. As will be described in more detailbelow, the second stage, which is optional in some embodiments, mayinvolve checking the PLMN associated with target cell before performinga reselection to the target cell. These embodiments may improve asuccess rate for UI-side cell re-selection in an unlicensed band, evenin the presence of uncoordinated neighboring cells belonging todifferent PLMNs being in within that band.

Aspects of the embodiments described herein may be implemented throughdevices or components performing operation flows/algorithmic structures.FIGS. 2-6 illustrate some operation flows/algorithmic structures inaccordance with some embodiments. Some or all of the details of FIGS.2-6 may be performed by a LIE, for example, LIE 104 of FIG. 1 or UEs 701a or 701 b of FIG. 7; components, for example, baseband circuitry810/910 of FIGS. 8/9, or radio front end modules 815/915 of FIGS. 8/9;or processors 1012/1014 and memory/storage devices 1050 of FIG. 10.

FIG. 2 illustrates an operation flow/algorithmic structure 200 for atwo-stage cell reselection to improve cell reselection performance inaccordance with some embodiments.

The operation flow/algorithmic structure 200 includes a first stage 204and a second stage 208. Generally, the first stage 204 involvesselection of a target cell, while the second stage 208 involves apre-check of the PLMN information of the target cell.

In the first stage 204, at 208, the operation flow/algorithmic structure200 may include detecting and measuring a set of neighboring cellcandidates. In various embodiments, the UE may measure or otherwiseobtain measurement quality metrics for assessing neighbor cells for cellreselection. These measurement quality metrics may include anycombination of, for example, RSRP, RSRQ, SINR, etc.

In some embodiments, the RRC layer may direct lower layers to performthe detecting and measuring of the neighbor cell candidates. Forexample, a Layer 1 (L1) of the UE 104 may perform L1 measurements onsynchronization signal/physical broadcast channel (SS/PBCH) blocks ofneighbor cells Because reselection is to change a serving cell, the L1measurements may be cell-level measurements, rather than beam-levelmeasurements.

The cell-level measurements may be derived from one or more beam levelmeasurements based on parameters broadcast within a system informationblock (SIB)2 or SIB 4 of source cell for purposes of cell reselection.These parameters may include a number of SS-blocks to average,nrofSS-BlocksToAverage, which may range from 2-16, for example, andabsolute threshold SS-blocks consolidation,absThreshSS-BlocksConsolidation, which may be a value range from 0-127mapped onto an RSRP or RSRQ value. The cell level measurement may bedefined as a linear average of up nrofSS-BlocksToAverage beams that havethe strongest measurement results that exceed theabsThreshSS-BlocksConsolidation threshold. If less thannrofSS-BlocksToAverage beams exceed the absThreshSS-BlocksConsolidationthreshold, only the beams that exceed the threshold may be averaged. Ifno beams exceed the threshold, the cell level result may be set equal tothe strongest beam level result.

In some embodiments, if the UE 104 is not configured withnrofSS-BlocksToAverage and absThreshSS-BlocksConsolidation parameters,the U E 104 may use the measurement from the strongest beam as the celllevel measurement.

The first stage 204 may also include, at 216, preselecting the targetcell based on the measurement metrics. In various embodiments, thepreselection of the target cell may include a preliminary decision ofdetermining that reselection from the current serving cell is to occurand further determining which of a number of candidate neighbor cellswill be the target of the cell reselection process (hereinafter “targetcell”).

In some embodiments, the cell-level L1 measurements collected at 212 maybe filtered at Layer 3 (L3) to detect one or more events related tocomparing serving or target cell a measurements to various thresholds.These events may include an A2 event, which may be triggered when theserving cell becomes worse than a threshold; an A3 event, which may betriggered when a neighboring cell becomes better than a special cell(for example, the PCell of a master cell group or a secondary cellgroup) by an offset; or an A4 event, which may be triggered when aneighboring cell becomes better than a threshold.

The second stage 208 may include, at 220, decoding a master informationblock (MIB) and a system information block (SIB) 1 of the target celland extracting PLMN information of the target cell. The target cell maybroadcast system information using the MIB and a series of SIBs. Minimumsystem information (MSI) may be transmitted in the MIB and the SIB1,with the SIB1 specifically carrying remaining minimum system information(RMSI). The remaining SIBs, for example SIBs 2-9, may carry other systeminformation (OSI).

The MIB may be transmitted using the BCCH logical channel, BCH transportchannel, and PBCH physical channel. The SIBs may be transmitted usingthe BCCH logical channel, the DL-SCH transport channel, and the PDSCHphysical channel.

The UE 104 may acquire the MIB based on information provided by currentserving cell (in, for example, a SIB4 transmission) regarding globalsynchronization channel numbers (GSCN) of neighbor cells. In embodimentsin which the UE 104 does not have a current serving cell, the MIB may beacquired by scanning a set of GSCNs and discovering an SS/PBCH block,The MIB may be found directly on the PBCH without relying on anyresource allocations on the PDCCH. The UE 104 may decode the MIB todiscover information regarding a control resource set (CORESET) andsearch space used by the PDCCH when making a resource allocation for theSIB1 in the PDSCH. In this manner, the UE 104 may determine thesignaling parameters (for example, time offset, frequency (for example,component carrier), transmission mode, etc.) for receiving the SIB1.

Upon receiving and decoding the SIB1, the UE 104 may extract the PLMNinformation from the decoded SIB1 bits. The PLMN information may beincluded in a cell access related information, cellAccessRelatedInfo,information element (IE) in the SIB1. The cellAccessRelatedInfo IE mayinclude PLMN identities associated with the broadcasting cell. Each PLMNidentity may be defined by its mobile country code (MCC) and mobilenetwork code (MNC). Individual PLMN identities may be associated with atracking area code (TAC), RAN area code (RANAC), cell identity, and flagto indicate whether or not the cell is reserved for operator use.

The UE 104 may compare the PLMN information from the SIB1 of the targetcell to PLMN information associated with the serving cell. In someembodiments, the PLMN associated with the serving cell may have beenpreviously acquired from a SIB1 transmitted by the serving gNB.

if the UE 104 determines, at 228, that a PLMN identity from the PLMNinformation of the target cell matches, for example, is identical to, aPLMN identity from the PLMN information of the source cell, theoperation flow/algorithmic structure 200 may advance to applying a cellreselection to the target cell at 232. In some embodiments, this mayinclude, among other things, the UE transmitting a random access channelto the gNB of the target cell to access the target cell and establish anRRC connection.

If the UE 104 determines, at 228, that a PLMN identity from the PLMNinformation of the target cell does not match, for example, is notidentical to, a PLMN identity from the PLMN information of the sourcecell, the operation flow/algorithmic structure 200 may revert to thefirst stage 204, for example, detecting and measuring a set ofneighboring cell candidates at 212. In some embodiments, if themeasurement metrics obtained at 212 have not expired, the operationflow/algorithmic structure 200 may revert back to preselecting anothertarget cell at 216 based on the previously obtained information.

FIG. 3 illustrates an operation flow-algorithmic structure 300 for aone- or two-stage cell reselection to improve cell reselection inaccordance with some embodiments.

The operation flow/algorithmic structure 300 may include a first stage304 and a second stage 308. The second stage 308 may be an option thatwill be performed in some scenarios.

Similar to like-named operations of the first stage 204, the first stage304 may include detecting and measuring a set of neighboring cellcandidates at 312 and preselecting the target cell based on themeasurement metrics at 316.

Following the first stage 304, the operation flow/algorithmic structure300 may include, at 318, decoding the MIB of the target cell andextracting SIB1 configuration. As discussed above, the MIB may includeinformation related to the SIB1 configuration including, for example,timing and other location information of the SIB1 transmissions.

At 322, the operation flow/algorithmic structure 322 may includedetermining whether the SIB1 is co-located with a DRS of the targetcell. The DRS may correspond to the SS/PBCH blocks that the UE 104processes for the purposes of, for example, acquiring the MIB,performing cell measurements and discovery, etc. If the SIB1 isco-located with the DRS, for example, in the DRS block or within apredefined time interval from the DRS block, the UE 104 may also proceedwith SIB1 decoding quickly after having received the DRS from theassociated candidate cell. Thus, if it is determined at 322, that theSIB1 is co-located with the DRS of the target cell, the operationflow/algorithmic structure 300 may proceed to the second stage 308.

The second stage 308 may include decoding the SIB1 of the target celland extracting PLMN information of the target cell, at 320, andcomparing the extracted PLMN information of the target cell with thePLMN information of the source cell at 324. Following extraction of thePLMN information, the UE may determine whether a PLMN ID associated withtarget cell is the same as PLMN ID associated with the source cell at328 and either advance to applying the cell reselection at 332 or loopback to operations of the first stage 304. The operations at 320, 324,and 328 may be similar to respective operations described in 220, 224,and 228 of FIG. 2.

If the SIB1 is not co-located with the DRS of the target cell, forexample, if the SIB1 allocation is further than a predefined timingthreshold from the DRS block, it may be that the added assurance of thepre-selection PLMN check may not be worth the extra time needed to alsodecode the SIB1. Thus, in some embodiments, if it is determined, at 322,that the SIB1 is not co-located with the DRS of the target cell, theoperation flow/algorithmic structure 300 may skip the second stage 308to bypass the extra time needed to decode the SIB1 and proceed directlyto applying the reselection at 332. In the event that the target cell isnot associated with a compatible PLMN, the reselection may fail afterthe target cell does not respond to the UE's random access channeltransmission. After which, the UE may attempt reselection with anothercandidate cell.

FIG. 4 illustrates an operation flow/algorithmic structure 400 for atwo-stage cell reselection in accordance with some embodiments.

The operation flow/algorithmic structure 400 may include, at 404,measuring one or more quality metrics for a set of candidate cells thatare candidates for cell re-selection in one or more unlicensed bands ofan NR-U network. The one or more quality metrics, as discussed above,may include, for example, one or more of an RSRP, an RSRQ, or an SINR.

The operation flow/algorithmic structure 400 may further include, at408, selecting a first candidate cell of the set of candidate cellsbased on the measured one or more quality metrics. For example, thecandidate cell with the quality metrics that indicate the highestquality among the set of candidate cells may be selected.

The operation flow/algorithmic structure 400 may further include, at412, determining a first PLMN associated with the first candidate cell.The first PLMN may be determined by decoding SIB1 of the first candidatecell to extract PLMN information. In some embodiments, the UE may decodean MTB of the first candidate cell, and may decode the SIB based oninformation in the MIB as discussed above.

The operation flow/algorithmic structure 400 may further include, at416, comparing the first PLMN a current PLMN of a source cell. In someembodiments, the target or source cell may be associated with more thanone PLMN. For example, a cell may be associated with a plurality ofPLMNs and the cell may broadcast a list of the IDs of the PLMNs in itsSIB1 transmissions. In these embodiments, the comparing at 416 mayinclude determining whether any PLMNs associated with the firstcandidate cell is also associated with the source cell.

The operation flow/algorithmic structure 400 may further include, at420, determining whether to perform cell re-selection from the sourcecell to the first candidate cell based on the comparison at 416. Forexample, cell re-selection may be performed if the first PLMN is thesame as the current PLMN (or if a PLMN associated with the firstcandidate cell is also associated with the source cell). If the firstPLMN is different from the current PLMN (or if a PLMN associated withthe first candidate cell is not also associated with the source cell),the cell re-selection to the first candidate cell may not be performed.Instead, the UE may select a second candidate cell from the set ofcandidate cells (for example, based on the measured one or more qualitymetrics and/or updated measurements of the one or more quality metrics).The UE 104 may then repeat the operations of 412, 416, and 420 for thesecond candidate cell.

FIG. 5 illustrates an operation flow/algorithmic structure 500 inaccordance with some embodiments.

In some embodiments, the operation flow/algorithmic structure 500 may beinitiated upon an initial determination regarding the status of acurrent serving cell. For example, if a quality of the current servingcell, as measured by one or more quality metrics, falls below apredetermined threshold for a predetermined period of time, some or allthe operation flow/algorithmic structure may be implemented by a UE.

Once initiated, the operation flow/algorithmic structure 500 mayinclude, at 504, selecting a target cell from one or more candidatecells based on a measured quality metric. As discussed above, the UE maymeasure signals, for example, SS/PBCH signals, from various neighborcells to determine quality metrics related to, or otherwise based on,RSRP, RSRP, SINR, etc. Based on these metrics, the UE may select onetarget cell from one or more candidate cells for cell reselection.

The operation flow/algorithmic structure 50 may further include, at 508,decoding a MIB to extract SIB1 information related to the target cell.The MIB, which may be transmitted in the PBCH of the target cell, mayprovide information related to configuration of the SIB (for example,the time/frequency resources on which the SIB1 is transmitted).

The operation flow/algorithmic structure 500 may further include, at512, determining whether to perform a cell reselection from the sourcecell to the target call based on the SIB1 information.

In some embodiments, the SIB1 information may simply be locationinformation (for example, time allocation information) of the SIB1. Thislocation information may allow the UE to determine whether or not theSIB1 is co-located with a DRS (or SS/PBCH) of the target cell. Todetermine whether the SIB1 is co-located with the DRS, the UE maycompare the SIB1 time allocation information with the DRS timeallocation information. If a difference between the two time allocationsis below a predefined threshold, the SIB1 may be considered to beco-located with the DRS. The UE may either pre-check PLMN information orproceed directly to cell reselection based on the determination ofwhether the SIB1 is co-located with the DRS. This may be similar to thatdescribed above with respect to operation 322 of FIG. 3.

In other embodiments, the SIB1 information upon which the UE basesdetermination at 512 may include additional/alternative information suchas, but not limited to, PLMN information extracted from the SIB1transmission itself. This may be the case if the UE performs a two-stagecell reselection procedure (as shown in FIG. 2, for example) ordetermines that the SIB1 is co-located with the DRS (or SS/PBCH) in theoptional two-stage cell reselection procedure (as shown in FIG. 3, forexample).

Thus, in some embodiments, if the UE detects a first condition (forexample, SIB1 not co-located with DRS or both the target and sourcecells are associated with common PLMN) it may proceed to apply areselection to the target cell. If the first condition relates to theco-location of the SIB1/DRS and is not in some cases, if the firstcondition is not present based on system information, that a firstcondition is (for example, th. The first condition may be t and mayapply a reselection to a target cell

FIG. 6 illustrates an operation flow/algorithmic structure 600 inaccordance with some embodiments.

The operation flow/algorithmic structure 600 may include, at 604,initiating a cell reselection procedure. In some embodiments, theprocedure may be initiated, from an RRC idle or RRC inactive state, whenthe UE detects that one or more quality metrics associated with aserving cell are below a predetermined threshold. In some embodiments,the metrics may also need to be below the threshold for a predeterminedperiod of time for the UE to initiate the cell reselection procedure.

The operation flow/algorithmic structure 600 may further include, at608, selecting a target cell for reselection. The selection of thetarget cell may be done in a manner similar to the operations describedabove with respect to 216 of FIG. 2, for example.

The operation flow/algorithmic structure 600 may further include, at612, acquiring system information related to the target cell. In someembodiments, the system information acquired in this operation mayinclude SIB1 time allocation information acquired from the MIB or PLMNinformation acquired from the SIB1.

The operation flow/algorithmic structure 600 may further include, at616, detecting a network condition based on the acquired systeminformation. The network condition detected at 616 may be thenon-co-location of the SIB1 and a DRS of the target cell. In otherembodiments, the network condition detected at 616 may be that both thesource cell and the target cell are so associated with a common PLMN.This may be detected by comparing target cell PLMN information (acquiredfrom the SIB1) with source cell PLMN information.

The operation flow/algorithmic structure 600 may further include, at620, applying the cell reselection based on the detected networkcondition. Application of the cell reselection at 332 may be similar tooperations described above with respect to 332 of FIG. 3.

Turning now to FIG. 7, an example architecture of a system 700 of anetwork is illustrated, in accordance with various embodiments. Thefollowing description is provided for an example system 700 thatoperates in conjunction with 50 or NR system standards as provided by3GPP technical specifications, for example. However, the exampleembodiments are not limited in this regard, and the describedembodiments may apply to other networks that benefit from the principlesdescribed herein, such as future 3GPP systems (e.g., Sixth Generation(6G)) systems or other wireless networks.

As shown by FIG. 7, the system 700 includes UE 701 a and UE 701 b(collectively referred to as “UEs 701”). In this example, UEs 701 areillustrated as smartphones (e.g., handheld touchscreen mobile computingdevices connectable to one or more cellular networks) but may alsocomprise any mobile or non-mobile computing device, such as consumerelectronics devices, cellular phones, smartphones, feature phones,tablet computers, wearable computer devices, personal digital assistants(PDAs), pagers, wireless handsets, desktop computers, laptop computers,in-vehicle infotainment (IVI), in-car entertainment (ICE) devices, anInstrument Cluster (IC), head-up display (HUD) devices, onboarddiagnostic (OBD) devices, dashtop mobile equipment (DME), mobile dataterminals (MDTs). Electronic Engine Management System (EEMS),electronic/engine control units (ECUs), electronic/engine controlmodules (ECMs), embedded systems, microcontrollers, control modules,engine management systems (EMS), networked or “smart” appliances, MTCdevices. M2M, IoT devices, and/or the like.

In some embodiments, any of the UEs 701 may be Internet of Things (IoT)UEs, which may comprise a network access layer designed for low-powerIoT applications utilizing short-lived UE connections. An IoT UE canutilize technologies such as M2M or MTC for exchanging data with an MTCserver or device via a PLMN, ProSe or D2D communication, sensornetworks, or IoT networks. The M2M or MTC exchange of data may be amachine-initiated exchange of data. An IoT network describesinterconnecting IoT UEs, which may include uniquely so identifiableembedded computing devices (within the Internet infrastructure), withshort-lived connections. The IoT UEs may execute background applications(for example, keep-alive messages, status updates, etc.) to facilitatethe connections of the IoT network.

The UEs 701 may be configured to connect, for example, communicativelycouple, with a Radio Access Network (RAN) 710. In embodiments, the RAN710 may be an NG RAN or a 5G RAN. As used herein, the term “NO RAN” orthe like may refer to a RAN 710 that operates in an NR or 5G system 700.The UEs 701 utilize connections (or channels) 703 and 704, respectively,each of which comprises a physical communications interface or layer.

In this example, the connections 703 and 704 are illustrated as an airinterface to enable communicative coupling, and can be consistent withcellular communications protocols, such as a 3GPP 5G/NR protocol or anyof the other communications protocols discussed herein. In embodiments,the UEs 701 may directly exchange communication data via a ProSeinterface 705. The ProSe interface 705 may alternatively be referred toas a sidelink (SL) interface 705.

The UE 701 b is shown to be configured to access an access point (AP)706 (also referred to as “WLAN node 706,” “WLAN 706,” “WLAN Termination706,” “WT 706” or the like) via connection 707. The connection 707 cancomprise a local wireless connection, such as a connection consistentwith any IEEE 802.11 protocol, wherein the AP 706 would comprise awireless fidelity (Wi-Fi®) router. In this example, the AP 706 is shownto be connected to the Internet without connecting to the core networkof the wireless system (described in further detail below). In variousembodiments, the UE 701 b, RAN 710, and AP 706 may be configured toutilize LWA operation and/or LWIP operation.

The RAN 710 can include one or more access nodes (ANs) or RAN nodes 711a and 711 b (collectively referred to as “RAN nodes 711”) that enablethe connections 703 and 704. As used herein, the terms “access node,”“access point,” or the like may describe equipment that provides theradio baseband functions for data and/or voice connectivity between anetwork and one or more users. These access nodes can be referred to asBS, gNBs, RAN nodes, eNBs, NodeBs, RSUs, TRxPs or TRPs, and so forth,and can comprise ground stations (e.g., terrestrial access points) orsatellite stations providing coverage within a geographic area (e.g., acell). As used herein, the term “NO RAN node” or the like may refer to aRAN node 711 that operates in an NR or 5G system 700 (for example, agNB), and the term “E-UTRAN node” or the like may refer to a RAN node711 that operates in an LTE or 4G system (e.g., an eNB). According tovarious so embodiments, the RAN nodes 711 may be implemented as one ormore of a dedicated physical device such as a macrocell base station,and/or a low power (LP) base station for providing femtocells, picocellsor other like cells having smaller coverage areas, smaller usercapacity, or higher bandwidth compared to macrocells.

In vehicle-to-everything (V2X) scenarios one or more of the RAN nodes711 may be or act as a road-side unit (RSU). An RSU may refer to anytransportation infrastructure entity used for V2X communications. An RSUmay be implemented in or by a suitable RAN node or a stationary (orrelatively stationary) UE, where an RSU implemented in or by a UE may bereferred to as a “UE-type RSU,” an RSU implemented in or by an eNB maybe referred to as an “eNB-type RSU,” an RSU implemented in or by a gNBmay be referred to as a “gNB-type RSU.” and the like. In one example, anRSU is a computing device coupled with radio frequency circuitry locatedon a roadside that provides connectivity support to passing vehicle UEs701 (vUEs). The RSU may also include internal data storage circuitry tostore intersection map geometry, traffic statistics, media, as well asapplications/software to sense and control ongoing vehicular andpedestrian traffic. The RSU may operate on the 5.9 GHz Direct ShortRange Communications (DSRC) band to provide very low latencycommunications required for high speed events, such as crash avoidance,traffic warnings, and the like. Additionally or alternatively, the RSUmay operate on the cellular V2X band to provide the aforementioned lowlatency communications, as well as other cellular communicationsservices. Additionally or alternatively, the RSU may operate as a Wi-Fihotspot (2.4 GHz band) and/or provide connectivity to one or morecellular networks to provide uplink and downlink communications. Thecomputing device(s) and some or all of the radiofrequency circuitry ofthe RSU may be packaged in a weatherproof enclosure suitable for outdoorinstallation, and may include a network interface controller to providea wired connection (e.g., Ethernet) to a traffic signal controllerand/or a backhaul network.

Any of the RAN nodes 711 can terminate the air interface protocol andcan be the first point of contact for the UEs 701. In some embodiments,any of the RAN nodes 711 can fulfill various logical functions for theRAN 710 including, but not limited to, radio network controller (RNC)functions such as radio bearer management, uplink and downlink dynamicradio resource management and data packet scheduling, and mobilitymanagement.

In embodiments, the UEs 701 can be configured to communicate using OFDMcommunication signals with each other or with any of the RAN nodes 711over a multicarrier communication channel in accordance with variouscommunication techniques, such as, but not limited to, an OFDMAcommunication technique (e.g., for downlink communications) or a SC-FDMAcommunication technique (e.g., for uplink and ProSe or sidelinkcommunications), although the scope of the embodiments is not limited inthis respect. The OFDM signals can comprise a plurality of orthogonalsubcarriers.

In some embodiments, a downlink resource grid can be used for downlinktransmissions from any of the RAN nodes 711 to the UEs 701, while uplinktransmissions can utilize similar techniques. The grid can be atime-frequency grid, called a resource grid or time-frequency resourcegrid, which is the physical resource in the downlink in each slot. Sucha time-frequency plane representation is a common practice fororthogonal frequency division multiplex (OFDM) systems, which makes itintuitive for radio resource allocation. Each column and each row of theresource grid corresponds to one OFDM symbol and one OFDM subcarrier,respectively. The duration of the resource grid in the time domaincorresponds to one slot in a radio frame. The smallest time-frequencyunit in a resource grid is denoted as a resource element. Each resourcegrid comprises a number of resource blocks, which describe the mappingof certain physical channels to resource elements. Each resource blockcomprises a collection of resource elements; in the frequency domain,this may represent the smallest quantity of resources that currently canbe allocated. There are several different physical downlink channelsthat are conveyed using such resource blocks.

According to various embodiments, the UEs 701 and the RAN nodes 711communicate data (for example, transmit and receive) data over alicensed medium (also referred to as the “licensed spectrum” and/or the“licensed band”) and an unlicensed shared medium (also referred to asthe “unlicensed spectrum” and/or the “unlicensed band”).

To operate in the unlicensed spectrum, for example, in NR-U systems, theUEs 701 and the RAN nodes 711 may operate using LAA, eLAA, and/or feLAAmechanisms. In these implementations, the UEs 701 and the RAN nodes 711may perform one or more known medium-sensing operations and/orcarrier-sensing operations in order to determine whether one or morechannels in the unlicensed spectrum is unavailable or otherwise occupiedprior to transmitting in the unlicensed spectrum. The medium/carriersensing operations may be performed according to a listen-before-talk(LBT) protocol.

As discussed above, LBT is a mechanism whereby equipment (for example,UEs 701 RAN nodes 711, etc.) senses a medium (for example, a channel orcarrier frequency) and transmits when the medium is sensed to be idle(or when a specific channel in the medium is sensed to be unoccupied).The medium sensing operation may include clear channel assessment (CCA),which utilizes at least energy detection (ED) to determine the presenceor absence of other signals on a channel in order to determine if achannel is occupied or clear. This LBT mechanism allows cellular/LAAnetworks to coexist with incumbent systems in the unlicensed spectrumand with other LAA networks. ED may include sensing RF energy across anintended transmission band for a period of time and comparing the sensedRF energy to a predefined or configured threshold.

The RAN nodes 711 may be configured to communicate with one another viainterface 712. The interface 712 may be an Xn interface 712. The Xninterface is defined between two or more RAN nodes 711 (e.g., two ormore gNBs and the like) that connect to 50C 720, between a RAN node 711(e.g., a gNB) connecting to 5GC 720 and an eNB, and/or between two eNBsconnecting to 5GC 720. In some implementations, the Xn interface mayinclude an Xn user plane (Xn-U) interface and an Xn control plane (Xn-C)interface. The Xn-U may provide non-guaranteed delivery of user planePDUs and support/provide data forwarding and flow control functionality.The Xn-C may provide management and error handling functionality,functionality to manage the Xn-C interface; mobility support for UE 701in a connected mode (e.g., CM-CONNECTED) including functionality tomanage the UE mobility for connected mode between one or more RAN nodes711. The mobility support may include context transfer from an old(source) serving RAN node 711 to new (target) serving RAN node 711; andcontrol of user plane tunnels between old (source) serving RAN node 711to new (target) serving RAN node 711. A protocol stack of the Xn-U mayinclude a transport network layer built on Internet Protocol (IP)transport layer, and a GTP-U layer on top of a UDP and/or IP layer(s) tocarry user plane PDUs. The Xn-C protocol stack may include anapplication layer signaling protocol (referred to as Xn ApplicationProtocol (Xn-AP)) and a transport network layer that is built on SCTP.The SCTP may be on top of an IP layer, and may provide the guaranteeddelivery of application layer messages. In the transport IP layer,point-to-point transmission is used to deliver the signaling PDUs. Inother implementations, the Xn-U protocol stack and/or the Xn-C protocolstack may be same or similar to the user plane and/or control planeprotocol stack(s) shown and described herein.

The RAN 710 is shown to be communicatively coupled to a core network—inthis embodiment, core network (CN) 720. The CN 720 may comprise aplurality of network elements 722, which are configured to offer variousdata and telecommunications services to customers/subscribers (e.g.,users of UEs 701) who are connected to the CN 720 via the RAN 710. Thecomponents of the CN 720 may be implemented in one physical node orseparate physical nodes including components to read and executeinstructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g.,a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium). In some embodiments,network function virtualization (NFV) may be utilized to virtualize anyor all of the above-described network node functions via executableinstructions stored in one or more computer-readable storage mediums(described in further detail below). A logical instantiation of the CN720 may be referred to as a network slice, and a logical instantiationof a portion of the CN 720 may be referred to as a network sub-slice.NFV architectures and infrastructures may be used to virtualize one ormore network functions, alternatively performed by proprietary hardware,onto physical resources comprising a combination of industry-standardserver hardware, storage hardware, or switches. In other words, NFVsystems can be used to execute virtual or reconfigurable implementationsof one or more EPC components/functions.

Generally, the application server 730 may be an element offeringapplications that use IP bearer resources with the core network (e.g.,UMTS PS domain, LTE PS data services, etc.). The application server 730can also be configured to support one or more communication services(e.g., VoIP sessions, PTT sessions, group communication sessions, socialnetworking services, etc.) for the UEs 701 via the CN 720.

In embodiments, the CN 720 may be a SC (referred to as “5GC 720” or thelike), and the RAN 710 may be connected with the CN 720 via an NOinterface 713. In embodiments, the NG interface 713 may be split intotwo parts, an NG user plane (NG-U) interface 714, which carries trafficdata between the RAN nodes 711 and a UPF, and the SI control plane(NG-C) interface 715, which is a signaling interface between the RANnodes 711 and AMFs.

FIG. 8 illustrates an example of a platform 800 (or “device 800”) inaccordance with various embodiments. In embodiments, the computerplatform 800 may be suitable for use as UEs 701 and/or any otherelement/device discussed herein. The platform 800 may include anycombinations of the components shown in the example. The components ofplatform 800 may be implemented as integrated circuits (ICs), portionsthereof, discrete electronic devices, or other modules, logic, hardware,software, firmware, or a combination thereof adapted in the computerplatform 800, or as components otherwise incorporated within a chassisof a larger system. The block diagram of FIG. 8 is intended to show ahigh level view of components of the computer platform 800. However,some of the components shown may be omitted, additional components maybe present, and different arrangement of the components shown may occurin other implementations.

Application circuitry 805 includes circuitry such as, but not limited toone or more processors (or processor cores), cache memory, and one ormore of LDOs, interrupt controllers, serial interfaces, universalprogrammable serial interface module, RTC, timer-counters includinginterval and watchdog timers, general purpose I/O, memory cardcontrollers such as SD MMC or similar, USB interfaces, MIPI® interfaces,and JTAG test access ports. The processors (or cores) of the applicationcircuitry 805 may be coupled with or may include memory/storage elementsand may be configured to execute instructions stored in thememory/storage to enable various applications or operating systems torun on the system Processors of the application circuitry XS105/XS205and processors of the baseband circuitry 810 may be used to executeelements of one or more instances of a protocol stack. For example,processors of the baseband circuitry 810, alone or in combination, maybe used execute Layer 3, Layer 2, or Layer 1 functionality, whileprocessors of the application circuitry 804 may utilize data (e.g.,packet data) received from these layers and further execute Layer 4functionality (e.g., TCP and UDP layers). As referred to herein, Layer 3may comprise a RRC layer, described in further detail below. As referredto herein, Layer 2 may comprise a MAC layer, an RLC layer, and a PDCPlayer, described in further detail below. As referred to herein, Layer 1may comprise a PHY layer of a UE/RAN node, described in further detailbelow.

In some implementations, the memory/storage elements may be on-chipmemory circuitry, which may include any suitable volatile and/ornon-volatile memory, such as dynamic random access memory DRAM, SRAM,EPROM, EEPROM, Flash memory, solid-state memory, and/or any other typeof memory device technology, such as those discussed herein.

The processor(s) of application circuitry 805 may include, for example,one or more processor cores, one or more application processors, one ormore graphic processing units (GPUs), as one or more reduced instructionset computer (RISC) processors, one or more Arm processors, one or morecomplex instruction set computer (CISC) processors, one or more DSPs,one or more field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), one or more PLDs,one or more ASICs, one or more microprocessors or controllers, amultithreaded processor, an ultra-low voltage processor, an embeddedprocessor, some other known processing element, or any suitablecombination thereof, so In some embodiments, the application circuitry805 may comprise, or may be, a special-purpose processor/controller tooperate according to the various embodiments herein.

As examples, the processor(s) of application circuitry 805 may includean Intel® Architecture Core™ based processor, such as a Quark™, anAtom™, an i3, an i5, an i7, or an MCU-class processor, or another suchprocessor available from Intel® Corporation, Santa Clara, Calif. Theprocessors of the application circuitry 805 may also be one or more ofAdvanced Micro Devices (AMD) Ryzen®, processor(s) or AcceleratedProcessing Units (APUs); A5-A9 processor(s) from Apple® Inc.,Snapdragon™ processor(s) from Qualcomm® Technologies, Inc., TexasInstruments, Inc.® Open Multimedia Applications Platform (OMAP)™processor(s); a MIPS-based design from MIPS Technologies. Inc. such asMiPS Warrior M-class, Warrior I-class, and Warrior P-class processors;an Arm-based design licensed from ARM Holdings, Ltd., such as the ARMCortex-A, Cortex-R, and Cortex-M family of processors; or the like. Insome implementations, the application circuitry 805 may be a part of asystem on a chip (SoC) in which the application circuitry 805 and othercomponents are formed into a single integrated circuit, or a singlepackage, such as the Edison™ or Galileo™ SoC boards from Intel®Corporation.

Additionally or alternatively, application circuitry 805 may includecircuitry such as, but not limited to, one or more FPDs such as FPGAsand the like; PLDs such as complex PLDs (CPLDs), high-capacity PLDs(HCPLDs), and the like; ASICs such as structured ASICs and the like;programmable SoCs (PSoCs); and the like. In such embodiments, thecircuitry of application circuitry 805 may comprise logic blocks orlogic fabric, and other interconnected resources that may be programmedto perform various functions, such as the procedures, methods,functions, etc. of the various embodiments discussed herein. In suchembodiments, the circuitry of application circuitry 805 may includememory cells such as EPROM, EEPROM, flash memory, static memory (e.g.,SRAM, anti-fuses, etc.)) used to store logic blocks, logic fabric, data,etc. in LUTs and the like.

The baseband circuitry 810 may be implemented, for example, as asolder-down 2 s substrate including one or more integrated circuits, asingle packaged integrated circuit soldered to a main circuit board or amulti-chip module containing two or more integrated circuits.

The RFEM 815, which may also be referred to as “radio front endcircuitry,” may comprise a mmWave RFEM and one or more sub-mmWave RFICs.In some implementations, the one or more sub-mmWave RFICs may bephysically separated from the mmWave RFEM. The RFICs may includeconnections to one or more antennas or antenna arrays, and the RFEM maybe connected to multiple antennas. In alternative implementations, bothmmWave and sub-mmWave radio functions may be implemented in the samephysical RFEM 815, which incorporates both mmWave antennas andsub-mmWave.

The memory circuitry 820 may include any number and type of memorydevices used to provide for a given amount of system memory. Asexamples, the memory circuitry 820 may include one or more of volatilememory including RAM, DRAM, and/or SDRAM, and NVM including high-speedelectrically erasable memory (commonly referred to as Flash memory),PRAM, MRAM, etc. The memory circuitry 820 may be developed in accordancewith a JEDEC LPDDR-based design, such as LPDDR2, LPDDR3, LPDDR4, or thelike. Memory circuitry 820 may be implemented as one or more of solderdown packaged integrated circuits, single die package (SDP), DDP orQ17P, socketed memory modules, DIMMs including microDIMMs or MiniDIMMs,and/or soldered onto a motherboard via a ball grid array (BGA). In lowpower implementations, the memory circuitry 820 may be on-die memory orregisters associated with the application circuitry 805. To provide forpersistent storage of information such as data, applications, operatingsystems and so forth, memory circuitry 820 may include one or more massstorage devices, which may include, inter alia, a SSDD, HDD, a microHDD, resistance change memories, phase change memories, holographicmemories, or chemical memories, among others. For example, the computerplatform 800 may incorporate the XPOINT memories from Intel® andMicron®.

Removable memory circuitry 823 may include devices, circuitry,enclosure/housings, ports or receptacles, etc. used to couple portabledata storage devices with the platform 800. These portable data storagedevices may be used for mass storage purposes, and may include, forexample, flash memory cards (e.g., SD cards, microSD cards, xD picturecards, and the like), and USB flash drives, optical discs, externalHDDs, and the like.

The platform 800 may also include interface circuitry (not shown) thatis used to connect external devices with the platform 800. The externaldevices connected to the platform 800 via the interface circuitryinclude sensor circuitry 821 and electro-mechanical components (EMCs)822, as well as removable memory devices coupled to removable memorycircuitry 823.

The sensor circuitry 821 include devices, modules, or subsystems whosepurpose is to detect events or changes in its environment and send theinformation (sensor data) about the detected events to some other adevice, module, subsystem, etc. Examples of such sensors include, interalia, inertia measurement units (IMIs) comprising accelerometers,gyroscopes, and/or magnetometers; microelectromechanical systems (MEMS)or nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS) comprising 3-axisaccelerometers, 3-axis gyroscopes, and/or magnetometers; level sensors;flow sensors; temperature sensors (e.g., thermistors); pressure sensors;barometric pressure sensors; gravimeters; altimeters; image capturedevices (e.g., cameras or lensless apertures); light detection andranging (LiDAR) sensors; proximity sensors (e.g., infrared radiationdetector and the like), depth sensors, ambient light sensors, ultrasonictransceivers; microphones or other like audio capture devices; etc.

EMCs 822 include devices, modules, or subsystems whose purpose is toenable platform 800 to change its state, position, and/or orientation,or move or control a mechanism or (sub)system. Additionally, EMCs 822may be configured to generate and send messages/signaling to othercomponents of the platform 800 to indicate a current state of the EMCs822. Examples of the EMCs 822 include one or more power switches, relaysincluding electromechanical relays (EMRs) and/or solid state relays(SSRs), actuators (e.g., valve actuators, etc.), an audible soundgenerator, a visual warning device, motors (e.g., DXC motors, steppermotors, etc.), wheels, thrusters, propellers, claws, clamps, hooks,and/or other like electro-mechanical components. In embodiments,platform 800 is configured to operate one or mote EMCs 822 based on oneor more captured events and/or instructions or control signals receivedfrom a service provider and/or various clients.

In some implementations, the interface circuitry may connect theplatform 800 with positioning circuitry 845. The positioning circuitry845 includes circuitry to receive and decode signalstransmitted/broadcasted by a positioning network of a GNSS. Examples ofnavigation satellite constellations (or GNSS) include United States'GPS, Russia's GLONASS, the European Union's Galileo system, China'sBeiDou Navigation Satellite System, a regional navigation system or GNSSaugmentation system (e.g., NAVIC), Japan's QZSS. France's DORIS, etc.),or the like. The positioning circuitry 845 comprises various hardwareelements (e.g., including hardware devices such as switches, filters,amplifiers, antenna elements, and the like to facilitate OTAcommunications) to communicate with components of a positioning network,such as navigation satellite constellation nodes. In some embodiments,the positioning circuitry 845 may include a Micro-PNT IC that uses amaster timing clock to perform position tracking/estimation without GNSSassistance. The positioning circuitry 845 may also be part of, orinteract with, the baseband circuitry 810 and/or RFEMs 815 tocommunicate with the nodes and components of the positioning network.The positioning circuitry 845 may also provide position data and/or timedata to the application circuitry 805, which may use the data tosynchronize operations with various infrastructure (e.g., radio basestations), for turn-by-turn navigation applications, or the like

In some implementations, interface circuitry may connect the platform800 with Near-Field Communication (NFC) circuitry 840. NFC circuitry 840is configured to provide contactless, short-range communications basedon radio frequency identification (RFID) standards, wherein magneticfield induction is used to enable communication between NFC circuitry840 and NFC-enabled devices external to the platform 800 (e.g., an “NFCtouchpoint”). NFC circuitry 840 comprises an NFC controller coupled withan antenna element and a processor coupled with the NFC controller. TheNFC controller may be a chip/IC providing NFC functionalities to the NFCcircuitry 840 by executing NFC controller firmware and an NFC stack. TheNFC stack may be executed by the processor to control the NFCcontroller, and the NFC controller firmware may be executed by the NFCcontroller to control the antenna element to emit short-range RFsignals. The RF signals may power a passive NFC tag (e.g., a microchipembedded in a sticker or wristband) to transmit stored data to the NFCcircuitry 740, or initiate data transfer between the NFC circuitry 740and another active NFC device (e.g., a smartphone or an NFC-enabled POSterminal) that is proximate to the platform 800.

The driver circuitry 846 may include software and hardware elements thatoperate to control particular devices that are embedded in the platform800, attached to the platform 800, or otherwise communicatively coupledwith the platform 800. The driver circuitry 846 may include individualdrivers allowing other components of the platform 800 to interact withor control various input/output (I/O) devices that may be presentwithin, or connected to, the platform 800. For example, driver circuitry846 may include a display driver to control and allow access to adisplay device, a touchscreen driver to control and allow access to atouchscreen interface of the platform 800, sensor drivers to obtainsensor readings of sensor circuitry 821 and control and allow access tosensor circuitry 821, EMC drivers to obtain actuator positions of theEMCs 822 and/or control and allow access to the EMCs 822, a cameradriver to control and allow access to an embedded image capture device,audio drivers to control and allow access to one or more audio devices.

The PMIC 825 (also referred to as “power management circuitry 825”) maymanage power provided to various components of the platform 800. Inparticular, with respect to the baseband circuitry 810, the PMIC 825 maycontrol power-source selection, voltage scaling, battery charging, orDC-to-DC conversion. The PMIC 825 may often be included when theplatform 800 is capable of being powered by a battery 830, for example,when the device is included in a UE 701.

In some embodiments, the PMIC 825 may control, or otherwise be part of,various power saving mechanisms of the platform 800. For example, if theplatform 800 is in an RRC_Connected state, where it is still connectedto the RAN node as it expects to receive traffic shortly, then it mayenter a state known as DRX after a period of inactivity. During thisstate, the platform 800 may power down for brief intervals of time andthus save power. If there is no data traffic activity for an extendedperiod of time, then the platform 800 may transition off to an RRC-Idlestate, where it disconnects from the network and does not performoperations such as channel quality feedback, handover, etc. The platform800 goes into a very low power state and it performs paging where againit periodically wakes up to listen to the network and then powers downagain. The platform 800 may not receive data in this state; in order toreceive data, it must transition back to RRC_Connected state. Anadditional power saving mode may allow a device to be unavailable to thenetwork for periods longer than a paging interval (ranging from secondsto a few hours). During this time, the device is totally unreachable tothe network and may power down completely. Any data sent during thistime incurs a large delay and it is assumed the delay is acceptable.

A battery 830 may power the platform 800, although in some examples theplatform 800 may be mounted deployed in a fixed location, and may have apower supply coupled to an electrical grid. The battery 830 may be alithium ion battery, a metal-air battery, such as a zinc-air battery, analuminum-air battery, a lithium-air battery, and the like. In someimplementations, such as in V2X applications, the battery 830 may be atypical lead-acid automotive battery.

In some implementations, the battery 830 may be a “smart battery,” whichincludes or is coupled with a BMS or battery monitoring integratedcircuitry. The BMS may be included in the platform 800 to track thestate of charge (SoCh) of the battery 830. The BMS may be used tomonitor other parameters of the battery 830 to provide failurepredictions, such as the state of health (Sol) and the state of function(SoF) of the battery 830. The BMS may communicate the information of thebattery 830 to the application circuitry 805 or other components of theplatform 800. The BMS may also include an analog-to-digital (ADC)convertor that allows the application circuitry 805 to directly monitorthe voltage of the battery 830 or the current flow from the battery 830.The battery parameters may be used to determine actions that theplatform 800 may perform, such as transmission frequency, networkoperation, sensing frequency, and the like.

A power block, or other power supply coupled to an electrical grid maybe coupled with the BMS to charge the battery 830. In some examples, thepower block may be replaced with a wireless power receiver to obtain thepower wirelessly, for example, through a loop antenna in the computerplatform 800. In these examples, a wireless battery charging circuit maybe included in the BMS. The specific charging circuits chosen may dependon the size of the battery 830, and thus, the current required. Thecharging may be performed using the Airfuel standard promulgated by theAirfuel Alliance, the Qi wireless charging standard promulgated by theWireless Power Consortium, or the Rezence charging standard promulgatedby the Alliance for Wireless Power, among others.

User interface circuitry 850 includes various input/output (I/O) devicespresent within, or connected to, the platform 800, and includes one ormore user interfaces designed to enable user interaction with theplatform 800 and/or peripheral component interfaces designed to enableperipheral component interaction with the platform 800. The userinterface circuitry 850 includes input device circuitry and outputdevice circuitry. Input device circuitry includes any physical orvirtual means for accepting an input including, inter alia, one or morephysical or virtual buttons (e.g., a reset button), a physical keyboard,keypad, mouse, touchpad, touchscreen, microphones, scanner, headset,and/or the like. The output device circuitry includes any physical orvirtual means for showing information or otherwise conveyinginformation, such as sensor readings, actuator position(s), or otherlike information. Output device circuitry may include any number and/orcombinations of audio or visual display, including, inter alia, one ormore simple visual outputs/indicators (e.g., binary status indicators(e.g., light emitting diodes (LEDs)) and multi-character visual outputs,or more complex outputs such as display devices or touchscreens (e.g.,Liquid Chrystal Displays (LCD), LED displays, quantum dot displays,projectors, etc.), with die output of characters, graphics, multimediaobjects, and the like being generated or produced from the operation ofthe platform 800. The output device circuitry may also include speakersor other audio emitting devices, printer(s), and/or the like. In someembodiments, the sensor circuitry 821 may be used as the input devicecircuitry (e.g., an image capture device, motion capture device, or thelike) and one or more EMCs may be used as the output device circuitry(e.g., an actuator to provide haptic feedback or the like). In anotherexample, NFC circuitry comprising an NFC controller coupled with anantenna element and a processing device may be included to readelectronic tags and/or connect with another NFC-enabled device.Peripheral component interfaces may include, but are not limited to, anon-volatile memory port, a USB port, an audio jack, a power supplyinterface, etc.

Although not shown, the components of platform 800 may communicate withone another using a suitable bus or interconnect (IX) technology, whichmay include any number of technologies, including ISA, EISA, PCI, PCIx,PCIe, a Time-Trigger Protocol (TTP) system, a FlexRay system, or anynumber of other technologies. The bus/IX may be a proprietary bus/IX,for example, used in a SoC based system. Other bus/IX systems may beincluded, such as an 12C interface, an SPI interface, point-to-pointinterfaces, and a power bus, among others.

FIG. 9 illustrates example components of baseband circuitry 910 andradio front end modules (RFEM) 915 in accordance with variousembodiments. The baseband circuitry 910 corresponds to the basebandcircuitry 810 of FIG. 8. The RFEM 915 corresponds to the RFEM 815 ofFIG. 8. As shown, the RFEMs 915 may include Radio Frequency (RF)circuitry 906, front-end module (FEM) circuitry 908, antenna array 911coupled together at least as shown.

The baseband circuitry 910 includes circuitry and/or control logicconfigured to carry out various radio/network protocol and radio controlfunctions that enable communication with one or more radio networks viathe RF circuitry 906. The radio control functions may include, but arenot limited to, signal modulation/demodulation, encoding/decoding, radiofrequency shifting, etc. In some embodiments, modulation/demodulationcircuitry of the baseband circuitry 910 may include Fast-FourierTransform (FFT), precoding, or constellation mapping/demappingfunctionality. In some embodiments, encoding/decoding circuitry of thebaseband circuitry 910 may include convolution, tail-biting convolution,turbo, Viterbi, or Low Density Parity Check (LDPC) encoder/decoderfunctionality. Embodiments of modulation/demodulation andencoder/decoder functionality are not limited to these examples and mayinclude other suitable functionality in other embodiments. The basebandcircuitry 910 is configured to process baseband signals received from areceive signal path of the RF circuitry 906 and to generate basebandsignals for a transmit signal path of the RF circuitry 906. The basebandcircuitry 910 is configured to interface with application circuitry 805of FIG. 8 for generation and processing of the baseband signals and forcontrolling operations of the RF circuitry 906. The baseband circuitry910 may handle various radio control functions.

The aforementioned circuitry and/or control logic of the basebandcircuitry 910 may include one or more single or multi-core processors.For example, the one or more processors may include a 30 basebandprocessor 904A, a 4G/LTE baseband processor 9048, a 5G/NR basebandprocessor 904C, or some other baseband processor(s) 904D for otherexisting generations, generations in development or to be developed inthe future (e.g., sixth generation (6G), etc.). In other embodiments,some or all of the functionality of baseband processors 904A-D may beincluded in modules stored in the memory 904G and executed via a CPU904E. In other embodiments, some or all of the functionality of basebandprocessors 904A-D may be provided as hardware accelerators (e.g., FPGAs,ASICs, etc.) loaded with the appropriate bit streams or logic blocksstored in respective memory cells. In various embodiments, the memory9040 may store program code of a real-time OS (RTOS), which whenexecuted by the CPU 904E (or other baseband processor), is to cause theCPU 904E (or other baseband processor) to manage resources of thebaseband circuitry 910, schedule tasks, etc. Examples of the RTOS mayinclude Operating System Embedded (OSE)™ provided by Enea@, NucleusRTOS™ provided by Mentor Graphics™, Versatile Real-Time Executive (VRTX)provided by Mentor Graphics®, ThreadX™ provided by Express Logic®,FreeRTOS, REX OS provided by Qualcomm®, OKL4 provided by Open Kernel(OK) Labs®, or any other suitable RTOS, such as those discussed herein.In addition, the baseband circuitry 910 includes one or more audio DSPs904F. The audio DSP(s) 904F include elements forcompression/decompression and echo cancellation and may include othersuitable processing elements in other embodiments.

In some embodiments, each of the processors 904A-904F include respectivememory interfaces to send/receive data to/from the memory 904G. Thebaseband circuitry 910 may further include one or more interfaces tocommunicatively couple to other circuitries/devices, such as aninterface to send/receive data to/from memory external to the basebandcircuitry 910; an application circuitry interface to send/receive datato/from the application circuitry 805 of FIG. 8); an RF circuitryinterface to send/receive data to/from RF circuitry 906; a wirelesshardware connectivity interface to send/receive data to/from one or morewireless hardware elements (e.g., Near Field Communication (NFC)components, Bluetooth®/Bluetooth® Low Energy components, Wi-Fi®components, and/or the like); and a power management interface tosend/receive power or control signals to/from the PMIC 825.

In alternate embodiments (which may be combined with the above describedembodiments), baseband circuitry 910 comprises one or more digitalbaseband systems, which are coupled with one another via an interconnectsubsystem and to a CPU subsystem, an audio subsystem, and an interfacesubsystem. The digital baseband subsystems may also be coupled to adigital baseband interface and a mixed-signal baseband subsystem viaanother interconnect subsystem. Each of the interconnect subsystems mayinclude a bus system, point-to-point connections, network-on-chip (NOC)structures, and/or some other suitable bus or interconnect technology,such as those discussed herein. The audio subsystem may include DSPcircuitry, buffer memory, program memory, speech processing acceleratorcircuitry, data converter circuitry such as analog-to-digital anddigital-to-analog converter circuitry, analog circuitry including one ormore of amplifiers and filters, and/or other like components. In anaspect of the present disclosure, baseband circuitry 910 may includeprotocol processing circuitry with one or more instances of controlcircuitry (not shown) to provide control functions for the digitalbaseband circuitry and/or radio frequency circuitry (e.g., the radiofront end modules 915).

Although not shown by FIG. 9, in some embodiments, the basebandcircuitry 910 includes individual processing device(s) to operate one ormore wireless communication protocols (e.g., a “multi-protocol basebandprocessor” or “protocol processing circuitry”) and individual processingdevice(s) to implement PRY layer functions. In these embodiments, thePHY layer functions include the aforementioned radio control functions.In these embodiments, the protocol processing circuitry operates orimplements various protocol layers/entities of one or more wirelesscommunication protocols. In a first example, the protocol processingcircuitry may operate LTE protocol entities and/or 5G/NR protocolentities when the baseband circuitry 910 and/or RF circuitry 906 arepart of mmWave communication circuitry or some other suitable cellularcommunication circuitry. In the first example, the protocol processingcircuitry would operate MAC, RLC, PDCP, SDAP, RRC, and NAS functions. Ina second example, the protocol processing circuitry may operate one ormore IEEE-based protocols when the baseband circuitry 910 and/or RFcircuitry 906 are part of a Wi-Fi communication system. In the secondexample, the protocol processing circuitry would operate Wi-Fi MAC andlogical link control (LLC) functions. The protocol processing circuitrymay include one or more memory structures (for example, memory 904G) tostore program code and data for operating the protocol functions, aswell as one or more processing cores to execute the program code andperform various operations using the so data. The baseband circuitry 910may also support radio communications for more than one wirelessprotocol.

The various hardware elements of the baseband circuitry 910 discussedherein may be implemented, for example, as a solder-down substrateincluding one or more integrated circuits (ICs), a single packaged ICsoldered to a main circuit board or a multi-chip module containing twoor more ICs. In one example, the components of the baseband circuitry910 may be suitably combined in a single chip or chipset, or disposed ona same circuit board. In another example, some or all of the constituentcomponents of the baseband circuitry 910 and RF circuitry 906 may beimplemented together such as, for example, a system on a chip (SoC) orSystem-in-Package (SiP). In another example, some or all of theconstituent components of the baseband circuitry 910 may be implementedas a separate SoC that is communicatively coupled with and RF circuitry906 (or multiple instances of RF circuitry 906). In yet another example,some or all of the constituent components of the baseband circuitry 910and the application circuitry may be implemented together as individualSoCs mounted to a same circuit board (for example, a “multi-chippackage”).

In some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 910 may provide forcommunication compatible with one or more radio technologies. Forexample, in some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 910 may supportcommunication with an NG-RAN, E-UTRAN or other WMAN, a WLAN, a WPAN.Embodiments in which the baseband circuitry 910 is configured to supportradio communications of more than one wireless protocol may be referredto as multi-mode baseband circuitry.

RF circuitry 906 may enable communication with wireless networks usingmodulated electromagnetic radiation through a non-solid medium. Invarious embodiments, the RF circuitry 906 may include switches, filters,amplifiers, etc. to facilitate the communication with the wirelessnetwork, RF circuitry 906 may include a receive signal path, which mayinclude circuitry to down-convert RF signals received from the FEMcircuitry 908 and provide baseband signals to the baseband circuitry910. RF circuitry 906 may also include a transmit signal path, which mayinclude circuitry to up-convert baseband signals provided by thebaseband circuitry 910 and provide RF output signals to the FEMcircuitry 908 for transmission.

In some embodiments, the receive signal path of the RE circuitry 906 mayinclude mixer circuitry 906 a, amplifier circuitry 906 b and filtercircuitry 906 c. In some embodiments, the transmit signal path of the RFcircuitry 906 may include filter circuitry 906 c and mixer circuitry so906 a. RF circuitry 906 may also include synthesizer circuitry 906 d forsynthesizing a frequency for use by the mixer circuitry 906 a of thereceive signal path and the transmit signal path. In some embodiments,the mixer circuitry 906 a of the receive signal path may be configuredto down-convert RF signals received from the FEM circuitry 908 based onthe synthesized frequency provided by synthesizer circuitry 906 d. Theamplifier circuitry 90 b may be configured to amplify the down-convertedsignals and the filter circuitry 906 c may be a low-pass filter (LPF) orband-pass filter (BPF) configured to remove unwanted signals from thedown-converted signals to generate output baseband signals. Outputbaseband signals may be provided to the baseband circuitry 910 forfurther processing. In some embodiments, the output baseband signals maybe zero-frequency baseband signals, although this is not a requirement.In some embodiments, mixer circuitry 906 a of the receive signal pathmay comprise passive mixers, although the scope of the embodiments isnot limited in this respect.

In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 906 a of the transmit signalpath may be configured to up-convert input baseband signals based on thesynthesized frequency provided by the synthesizer circuitry 906 d togenerate RF output signals for the FEM circuitry 908. The basebandsignals may be provided by the baseband circuitry 910 and may befiltered by filter circuitry 906 c.

In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 906 a of the receive signalpath and the mixer circuitry 906 a of the transmit signal path mayinclude two or more mixers and may be arranged for quadraturedownconversion and upconversion, respectively. In some embodiments, themixer circuitry 906 a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry906 a of the transmit signal path may include two or more mixers and maybe arranged for image rejection (e.g., Hartley 2 o image rejection). Insome embodiments, the mixer circuitry 906 a of the receive signal pathand the mixer circuitry 906 a of the transmit signal path may bearranged for direct downconversion and direct upconversion,respectively. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 906 a of thereceive signal path and the mixer circuitry 906 a of the transmit signalpath may be configured for super-heterodyne operation.

In some embodiments, the output baseband signals and the input basebandsignals may be analog baseband signals, although the scope of theembodiments is not limited in this respect. In some alternateembodiments, the output baseband signals and the input baseband signalsmay be digital baseband signals. In these alternate embodiments, the RPcircuitry 906 may include analog-to-digital converter (ADC) anddigital-to-analog converter (DAC) circuitry and the baseband circuitry910 may include a digital baseband interface to communicate with the RFcircuitry 906.

In some dual-mode embodiments, a separate radio IC circuitry may beprovided for processing signals for each spectrum, although the scope ofthe embodiments is not limited in this respect.

In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuitry 906 d may be afractional-N synthesizer or a fractional N/N+1 synthesizer, although thescope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect as other typesof frequency synthesizers may be suitable. For example, synthesizercircuitry 906 d may be a delta-sigma synthesizer, a frequencymultiplier, or a synthesizer comprising a phase-locked loop with afrequency divider.

The synthesizer circuitry 906 d may be configured to synthesize anoutput frequency for use by the mixer circuitry 906 a of the RFcircuitry 906 based on a frequency input and a divider control input. Insome embodiments, the synthesizer circuitry 906 d may be a fractionalN/N+1 synthesizer.

In some embodiments, frequency input may be provided by a voltagecontrolled oscillator (VCO), although that is not a requirement. Dividercontrol input may be provided by either the baseband circuitry 910 orthe application circuitry XS105/XS205 depending on the desired outputfrequency. In some embodiments, a divider control input (e.g., N) may bedetermined from a look-up table based on a channel indicated by theapplication circuitry.

Synthesizer circuitry 906 d of the RF circuitry 906 may include adivider, a delay-locked loop (DLL), a multiplexer and a phaseaccumulator. In some embodiments, the divider may be a dual modulusdivider (DMD) and the phase accumulator may be a digital phaseaccumulator (DPA). In some embodiments, the DMD may be configured todivide the input signal by either N or N+1 (e.g., based on a carry out)to provide a fractional division ratio. In some example embodiments, theDLL may include a set of cascaded, tunable, delay elements, a phasedetector, a charge pump and a D-type flip-flop. In these embodiments,the delay elements may be configured to break a VCO period up into Ndequal packets of phase, where Nd is the number of delay elements in thedelay line. In this way, the DLL provides negative feedback to helpensure that the total delay through the delay line is one VC(O cycle.

In some embodiments, synthesizer circuitry 906 d may be configured togenerate a carrier frequency as the output frequency, while in otherembodiments, the output frequency may be a multiple of the carrierfrequency (e.g., twice the carrier frequency, four times the carrierfrequency) and used in conjunction with quadrature generator and dividercircuitry to generate multiple signals at the carrier frequency withmultiple different phases with respect to each other. In someembodiments, the output frequency may be a LO frequency (fLO). In someembodiments, the RF circuitry 906 may include an IQ/polar converter.

FEM circuitry 908 may include a receive signal path, which may includecircuitry configured to operate on RF signals received from antennaarray 911, amplify the received signals and provide the amplifiedversions of the received signals to the RF circuitry 906 for furtherprocessing. FEM circuitry 908 may also include a transmit signal path,which may include circuitry configured to amplify signals fortransmission provided by the RF circuitry 906 for transmission by one ormore of antenna elements of antenna array 911. In various embodiments,the amplification through the transmit or receive signal paths may bedone solely in the RF circuitry 906, solely in the FEM circuitry 908, orin both the RF circuitry 906 and the FEM circuitry 908.

In some embodiments, the FEM circuitry 908 may include a TX/RX switch toswitch between transmit mode and receive mode operation. The FEMcircuitry 908 may include a receive signal path and a transmit signalpath. The receive signal path of the FEM circuitry 908 may include anLNA to amplify received RF signals and provide the amplified received RFsignals as an output (e.g., to the RF circuitry 906). The transmitsignal path of the FEM circuitry 908 may include a power amplifier (PA)to amplify input RF signals (e.g., provided by RF circuitry 906), andone or more filters to generate RF signals for subsequent transmissionby one or more antenna elements of the antenna array 911.

The antenna array 911 comprises one or more antenna elements, each ofwhich is configured convert electrical signals into radio waves totravel through the air and to convert received radio waves intoelectrical signals. For example, digital baseband signals provided bythe baseband circuitry 910 is converted into analog RF signals (e.g.,modulated waveform) that will be amplified and transmitted via theantenna elements of the antenna array 911 including one or more antennaelements (not shown). The antenna elements may be omnidirectional,direction, or a combination thereof. The antenna elements may be formedin a multitude of arranges as are known and/or discussed herein. Theantenna array 911 may comprise microstrip antennas or printed antennasthat are fabricated on the surface of one or more printed circuitboards. The antenna array 911 may be formed in as a patch of metal foil(e.g., a patch antenna) in a variety of shapes, and may be coupled withthe RF circuitry 906 and/or FEM circuitry 908 using metal sotransmission lines or the like.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating components, according to someexample embodiments, able to read instructions from a machine-readableor computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readablestorage medium) and perform any one or more of the methodologiesdiscussed herein. Specifically, FIG. 10 shows a diagrammaticrepresentation of hardware resources 1000 including one or moreprocessors (or processor cores) 1010, one or more memory/storage devices1020, and one or more communication resources 1030, each of which may becommunicatively coupled via a bus 1040. For embodiments where nodevirtualization (e.g., NFV) is utilized, a hypervisor 1002 may beexecuted to provide an execution environment for one or more networkslices/sub-slices to utilize the hardware resources 1000.

The processors 1010 may include, for example, a processor 1012 and aprocessor 1014. The processor(s) 1010 may be, for example, a CPU, a RISCprocessor, a CISC processor, a GPU, a DSP such as a baseband processor,an ASIC, an FPGA, a RFIC, another processor (including those discussedherein), or any suitable combination thereof.

The memory/storage devices 1020 may include main memory, disk storage,or any suitable combination thereof. The memory/storage devices 1020 mayinclude, but are not limited to, any type of volatile or nonvolatilememory such as DRAM. SRAM, EPROM, EEPROM, Flash memory, solid-statestorage, etc.

The communication resources 1030 may include interconnection or networkinterface components or other suitable devices to communicate with oneor more peripheral devices 1004 or one or more databases 1006 via anetwork 1008. For example, the communication resources 1030 may includewired communication components (e.g., for coupling via USB), cellularcommunication components, NFC components, Bluetooth® (or Bluetooth® LowEnergy) components, Wi-Fi® components, and other communicationcomponents.

Instructions 1050 may comprise software, a program, an application, anapplet, an app, or other executable code for causing at least any of theprocessors 1010 to perform any one or more of the methodologiesdiscussed herein. The instructions 1050 may reside, completely or aspartially, within at least one of the processors 1010 (e.g., within theprocessor's cache memory), the memory/storage devices 1020, or anysuitable combination thereof. Furthermore, any portion of theinstructions 1050 may be transferred to the hardware resources 1000 fromany combination of the peripheral devices 1004 or the databases 1006.Accordingly, the memory of processors 1010, the memory/storage devices1020, the peripheral devices 1004, and the databases 1006 are examplesof computer-readable and machine-readable media.

It is well understood that the use of personally identifiableinformation should follow privacy policies and practices that aregenerally recognized as meeting or exceeding industry or governmentalrequirements for maintaining the privacy of users. In particular,personally identifiable information data should be managed and handledso as to minimize risks of unintentional or unauthorized access or use,and the nature of authorized use should be clearly indicated to users.

For one or more embodiments, at least one of the components set forth inone or more of the preceding figures may be configured to perform one ormore operations, techniques, processes, and/or methods as set forth inthe example section below. For example, the baseband circuitry asdescribed above in connection with one or more of the preceding figuresmay be configured to operate in accordance with one or more of theexamples set forth below. For another example, circuitry associated witha UE, base station, network element, etc. as described above inconnection with one or more of the preceding figures may be configuredto operate in accordance with one or more of the examples set forthbelow in the example section.

EXAMPLES

In the following sections, further exemplary embodiments are provided.

Example 1 includes a method of operating a UE, the method comprising:storing one or more PLMN IDs associated with a source cell; selecting acandidate cell based on a measured quality metric; decoding a SIB1message to determine at least one PLMN ID associated with the candidatecell; comparing the at least one PLMN ID with the one or more PLMN IDs;and determining whether to perform cell reselection from the source cellto the candidate cell based on the comparison of the at least one PLMNID with the one or more PLMN IDs.

Example 2 includes the method of example 1 or some other example herein,further comprising: determining, based on comparison of the at least onePLMN ID with the one or more PLMN IDs, a first PLMN ID is included inboth the at least one PLMN ID and the one or more PLMN IDs; anddetermining, based on determination that the first PLMN ID is includedin both the at least one PLMN ID and the one or more PLMN IDs, toperform the cell reselection from the source cell to the candidate cell.

Example 3 includes the method of example 1 or some other example herein,further comprising: performing the cell reselection based on the saiddetermination to perform the cell reselection.

Example 4 includes the method of example 1 or some other example herein,further comprising: determining, based on comparison of the at least onePLMN ID with the one or more PLMN IDs, that no PLMN IDs are in both theat least one PLMN ID and the one or more PLMN IDs; and determining,based on determination that the no PLMN IDs are in both the at least onePLMN ID and the one or more PLMN IDs, not to perform the cellreselection from the source cell to the candidate cell.

Example 5 includes the method of example 4 or some other example herein,wherein the candidate cell is a first candidate cell, the measuredquality metric is a first measured to quality metric, and, based ondetermination not to perform, the method further comprises: selecting,based on a second measured quality metric, a second candidate cell froma set of candidate cells that also includes the first candidate cell;determining one or more PLMN IDs associated with the second candidatecell; comparing the at least one PLMN ID with the one or more PLMN IDsassociated with the second candidate cell; and determining whether toperform cell re-selection to the second candidate cell based on thecomparison of the at least one PLMN ID with the one or more PLMN IDsassociated with the second candidate cell.

Example 6 includes the method of example 1 or some other example herein,further comprising: decoding a MIB to determine SIB1 information; anddecoding the SIB1 based on the SIB1 information.

Example 7 includes the method of example 6 or some other example herein,further comprising: determining that the SIB1 is co-located with a DRSof the candidate cell; and decoding the SIB1 based on determination thatthe SIB1 is co-located with the DRS.

Example 8 includes the method of example 7 or some other example herein,wherein determining that the SIB1 is co-located with the DRS comprisesdetermining a time allocation of the SIB1 is within a predefinedthreshold from a time allocation of the DRS.

Example 9 may include a method of operating a UE, the method comprising:selecting a target cell from one or more candidate cells based on ameasured quality metric; decoding a MIB to extract SIB1 informationrelated to the target cell; and determining whether to perform a cellreselection from a source cell to the target cell based on the SIB1information.

Example 10 may include the method of example 9 or some other exampleherein, further comprising: determining, based on the SIB1 information,whether a SIB1 of the target cell is co-located with a DRS of thecandidate cell; and determining, based on determination of whether theSIM is co-located with the DRS, whether to check PLMN information withinthe SIB1 prior to performing a cell reselection.

Example 11 may include the method of example 10 or some other exampleherein, further comprising: determining, based on the SIB1 information,that the SIB1 is not co-located with the DRS; and performing, based onsaid determination that the SIB1 is not co-located with the DRS, a cellreselection from the source cell to the target cell without a priorcheck of the PLMN information.

Example 12 may include the method of example 10 or some other exampleherein, further comprising: determining, based on the SIB1 information,that the SIB1 is co-located with the DRS; checking, based on saiddetermination that the SIB1 is co-located with the DRS, the PLMNinformation in the SIB1; and determining whether to perform the cellreselection from the source cell to the target cell based on the checkof the PLMN information.

Example 13 may include the method of example 12 or some other exampleherein, wherein checking the PLMN information comprises: decoding theSIB1 to extract at least one PLMN ID associated with the target cell;and determining whether any PLMN IDs of the at least one PLMN ID matchesa PLMN ID associated with the source cell.

Example 14 may include the method of example 13 or some other exampleherein, further comprising: determining, based on a determination thatno PLMN IDs of the at least one PLMN ID matches a PLMN ID associatedwith the source cell, not to perform a cell reselection from the sourcecell to the target cell.

Example 15 may include the method of example 13 or some other exampleherein, further comprising: determining, based on a determination that afirst PLMN ID of the at least one PLMN ID matches a PLMN ID associatedwith the source cell, to perform a cell reselection from the source cellto the target cell.

Example 16 may include the method of example 10 or some other exampleherein, further comprising: determining that the SIB1 is co-located withthe DRS if the SIB1 is within a predefined timing threshold from theDRS.

Example 17 may include the method of example 9 or some other exampleherein, wherein the measured quality metric includes a reference signalreceive power (RSRP) metric, a reference signal receive quality (RSRQ)metric, or a signal-to-interference plus noise ratio (SINR) metric.

Example 18 may include a method of performing a cell reselection, themethod comprising: initiating, from a radio resource control “RRC” idleor inactive state, a cell reselection procedure based on a detection ofone or more quality metrics associated with a serving cell being below apredetermined threshold; selecting a target cell for reselection;acquiring system information related to the target cell; detecting,based on the system information, a network condition, wherein thenetwork condition is that: a SIB 1 of the target cell is not co-locatedwith a DRS of the target cell; or both the target cell and the sourcecell are associated with a common PLMN; and applying a cell reselectionbased on the detection of the network condition.

Example 19 may include the method of example 18 or some other exampleherein, wherein acquiring the system information comprises: decoding aMIB to obtain timing allocation information related to a SIB1.

Example 20 may include the method of example 18 or some other exampleherein, wherein acquiring the system information comprises: decoding aSIB 1 to determine PLMN information for the target cell.

Example 21 may include an apparatus comprising means to perform one ormore elements of a method described in or related to any of examples1-20, or any other method or process described herein.

Example 22 may include one or more non-transitory computer-readablemedia comprising instructions to cause an electronic device, uponexecution of the instructions by one or more processors of theelectronic device, to perform one or more elements of a method describedin or related to any of examples 1-20, or any other method or processdescribed herein.

Example 23 may include an apparatus comprising logic, modules, orcircuitry to perform one or more elements of a method described in orrelated to any of examples 1-20, or any other method or processdescribed herein.

Example 24 may include a method, technique, or process as described inor related to any of examples 1-20, or portions or parts thereof.

Example 25 may include an apparatus comprising: one or more processorsand one or more computer-readable media comprising instructions that,when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or moreprocessors to perform the method, techniques, or process as described inor related to any of examples 1-20, or portions thereof.

Example 26 may include a signal as described in or related to any ofexamples 1-20, or portions or parts thereof.

Example 27 may include a datagram, information element, packet, frame,segment, PDU, or message a % described in or related to any of examples1-20, or portions or parts thereof, or otherwise described in thepresent disclosure.

Example 28 may include a signal encoded with data as described in orrelated to any of examples 1-20, or portions or parts thereof, orotherwise described in the present disclosure.

Example 29 may include a signal encoded with a datagram, IE, packet,frame, segment, PDU, or message as described in or related to any ofexamples 1-20, or portions or parts thereof, or otherwise described inthe present disclosure.

Example 30 may include an electromagnetic signal carryingcomputer-readable instructions, wherein execution of thecomputer-readable instructions by one or more processors is to cause theone or more processors to perform the method, techniques, or process asdescribed in or related to any of examples 1-20, or portions thereof.

Example 31 may include a computer program comprising instructions,wherein execution of the program by a processing element is to cause theprocessing element to carry out the method, techniques, or process asdescribed in or related to any of examples 1-20, or portions thereof.

Example 32 may include a signal in a wireless network as shown anddescribed herein.

Example 33 may include a method of communicating in a wireless networkas shown and described herein.

Example 34 may include a system for providing wireless communication asshown and described herein.

Example 35 may include a device for providing wireless communication asshown and described herein.

Any of the above-described examples may be combined with any otherexample (or combination of examples), unless explicitly statedotherwise. The foregoing description of one or more implementationsprovides illustration and description, but is not intended to beexhaustive or to limit the scope of embodiments to the precise formdisclosed. Modifications and variations are possible in light of theabove teachings or may be acquired from practice of various embodiments.

Although the embodiments above have been described in considerabledetail, numerous variations and modifications will become apparent tothose skilled in the art once the above disclosure is fully appreciated.It is intended that the following claims be interpreted to embrace allsuch variations and modifications.

1. A user equipment “UE” comprising: memory to store one or more publicland mobile network “PLMN” identities “IDs” associated with a sourcecell; processing circuitry coupled with the memory, the processingcircuitry to: select a candidate cell based on a measured qualitymetric; decode a system information broadcast 1 “SIB1” message todetermine at least one PLMN ID associated with the candidate cell;compare the at least one PLMN ID with the one or more PLMN IDs; anddetermine whether to perform cell reselection from the source cell tothe candidate cell based on the comparison of the at least one PLMN IDwith the one or more PLMN IDs.
 2. The UE of claim 1, wherein theprocessing circuitry is further to: determine, based on comparison ofthe at least one PLMN ID with the one or more PLMN IDs, a first PLMN IDis included in both the at least one PLMN ID and the one or more PLMNIDs; and determine, based on determination that the first PLMN ID isincluded in both the at least one PLMN ID and the one or more PLMN IDs,to perform the cell reselection from the source cell to the candidatecell.
 3. The UE of claim 1, wherein the processing circuitry is furtherto: perform the cell reselection based on the said determination toperform the cell reselection.
 4. The UE of claim 1, wherein theprocessing circuitry is further to: determine, based on comparison ofthe at least one PLMN ID with the one or more PLMN IDs, that no PLMN IDsare in both the at least one PLMN ID and the one or more PLMN IDs; anddetermine, based on determination that the no PLMN IDs are in both theat least one PLMN ID and the one or more PLMN IDs, not to perform thecell reselection from the source cell to the candidate cell.
 5. The UEof claim 4, wherein the candidate cell is a first candidate cell, themeasured quality metric is a first measured quality metric, and, basedon determination not to perform, the processing circuitry is further to:select, based on a second measured quality metric, a second candidatecell from a set of candidate cells that also includes the firstcandidate cell; determine one or more PLMN IDs associated with thesecond candidate cell; compare the at least one PLMN ID with the one ormore PLMN IDs associated with the second candidate cell; and determinewhether to perform cell re-selection to the second candidate cell basedon the comparison of the at least one PLMN ID with the one or more PLMNIDs associated with the second candidate cell.
 6. The UE of claim 1,wherein the processing circuitry is further to: decode a masterinformation block “MIB” to determine SIB1 information; and decode theSIB1 based on the SIB1 information.
 7. The UE of claim 6, wherein theprocessing circuitry is further to: determine that the SIB1 isco-located with a discovery reference signal “DRS” of the candidatecell; and decode the SIB1 based on determination that the SIB1 isco-located with the DRS.
 8. The UE of claim 7, wherein to determine thatthe SIB1 is co-located with the DRS the UE is to: determine a timeallocation of the SIB1 is within a predefined threshold from a timeallocation of the DRS.
 9. One r more non-transitory storage-media havinginstructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause a userequipment “UE” to: select a target cell from one or more candidate cellsbased on a measured quality metric; decode a master information block“MIB” to extract system information broadcast 1 “SIB1” informationrelated to the target cell; and determine whether to perform a cellreselection from a source cell to the target cell based on the SIB1information.
 10. The one or more non-transitory storage-media of claim9, wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause the UE to:determine, based on the SIB1 information, whether a SIB1 of the targetcell is co-located with a discovery reference signal “DRS” of thecandidate cell; and determine, based on determination of whether theSIB1 is co-located with the DRS, whether to check public land mobilenetwork “PLMN” information within the SIB1 prior to performing a cellreselection.
 11. The one or more non-transitory storage-media of claim10, wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause the UE to:determine, based on the SIB1 information, that the SIB1 is notco-located with the DRS; and perform, based on said determination thatthe SIB1 is not co-located with the DRS, a cell reselection from thesource cell to the target cell without a prior check of the PLMNinformation.
 12. The one or more non-transitory storage-media of claim10, wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause the UE to:determine, based on the SIB1 information, that the SIB1 is co-locatedwith the DRS; check, based on said determination that the SIB1 isco-located with the DRS, the PLMN information in the SIB1; and determinewhether to perform the cell reselection from the source cell to thetarget cell based on the check of the PLMN information.
 13. The one ormore non-transitory storage-media of claim 12, wherein to check the PLMNinformation, the UE is to: decode the SIB1 to extract at least one PLMNidentity “ID” associated with the target cell; and determine whether anyPLMN IDs of the at least one PLMN ID matches a PLMN ID associated withthe source cell.
 14. The one or more non-transitory storage-media ofclaim 13, wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause the UEto: determine, based on a determination that no PLMN IDs of the at leastone PLMN ID matches a PLMN ID associated with the source cell, not toperform a cell reselection from the source cell to the target cell. 15.The one or more non-transitory storage-media of claim 13, wherein theinstructions, when executed, further cause the UE to: determine, basedon a determination that a first PLMN ID of the at least one PLMN IDmatches a PLMN ID associated with the source cell, to perform a cellreselection from the source cell to the target cell.
 16. The one or morenon-transitory storage-media of claim 10, wherein the instructions, whenexecuted, further cause the UE to: determine that the SIB1 is co-locatedwith the DRS if the SIB1 is within a predefined timing threshold fromthe DRS.
 17. The one or more non-transitory storage-media of claim 9,wherein the measured quality metric includes a reference signal receivepower (RSRP) metric, a reference signal receive quality (RSRQ) metric,or a signal-to-interference plus noise ratio (SINR) metric.
 18. A methodof performing a cell reselection, the method comprising: initiating,from a radio resource control “RRC” idle or inactive state, a cellreselection procedure based on a detection of one or more qualitymetrics associated with a serving cell being below a predeterminedthreshold; selecting a target cell for reselection; acquiring systeminformation related to the target cell; detecting, based on the systeminformation, a network condition, wherein the network condition is that:a system information block “SIB” 1 of the target cell is not co-locatedwith a discovery reference signal “DRS” of the target cell; or both thetarget cell and the source cell are associated with a common public landmobile network “PLMN”; and applying a cell reselection based on thedetection of the network condition.
 19. The method of claim 18, whereinacquiring the system information comprises: decoding a masterinformation block “MIB” to obtain timing allocation information relatedto a system information block “SIB”
 1. 20. The method of claim 18,wherein acquiring the system information comprises: decoding a systeminformation block “SIB” 1 to determine PLMN information for the targetcell.